Mill Ruins Park, Archaeological park in downtown Minneapolis, United States
Mill Ruins Park is an urban park along the Mississippi River in Minneapolis that preserves the excavated remains of flour mill buildings. The exposed stone foundations and channels show how water was used to power the industrial operations that once stood here.
Around 20 flour mills were built here in the 1800s, powered by the Mississippi River and making this location the world's largest grain processing center at the time. The decline of this industry in later decades left behind the structures that are now open to visitors as a park.
The park's exposed foundations show where mills once dominated the city's landscape and shaped the daily life of countless workers. Walking through the ruins, you can sense how central these structures were to the community's identity and survival.
The park sits right along the river and is easy to walk through on marked paths between the foundations. There are shaded areas under trees, but little protection from rain, so visits work better on dry days.
Water still flows through the original channels and tail races that miller workers once used to power their machines. This active system lets you see directly how engineers shaped and directed the water to turn the mills.
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